A Woman's Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Blog

Main menu

Post navigation

2 Legit 2 Quit

“Sweat running all over my chest, I don’t quit, no!
I just press harder than I ever did before.” -MC Hammer

I had an interesting moment in BJJ last night, during king of the mat in the advanced class. It was towards the end, when my body was totally aching, and I was going against someone who isn’t one of my favorite people to train with. He had me in a submission attempt that I was trying to escape, and in the past, I would be overwhelmed whenever I rolled with him, but last night, I felt this peacefulness come over me, where it was like I knew there wasn’t anything he could throw at me that I couldn’t handle, which basically made me feel like a badass, and I was thinking “I freaking love Jiu-Jitsu!”, even though I was losing at the time. I guess I believed I was challenging him, and that was good enough for me.

I recently saw an internet discussion about why people quit BJJ, and I’ve personally seen so many students try it, but then most of them disappear, and are replaced by more white belts with new faces. Many of them appear to start their training with eagerness and excitement, but only a few ever seem to last. I don’t know why so many of them quit, I’m sure the reasons are as individual as the people themselves, and the internet said it’s because Jiu-Jitsu is hard, but all I can say for sure is why I haven’t quit.

There are many reasons why I train BJJ, several benefits I gain from it, but the one thing that keeps me going is because win or lose, good or bad, hard or harder…I enjoy it. Sometimes I get all caught up in worrying that if my performance isn’t good enough, then I’ll disappoint The Professor, or my teammates will think I’m a waste of time, but personally, the fun of Jiu-Jitsu doesn’t just come from succeeding, it’s really about being able to experience and explore this beautiful, intricate, complicated, difficult, physical art. I haven’t always had faith in myself, but I’ve always believed in Jiu-Jitsu, and so it continues to reward me.

I would rather get my ass kicked in BJJ than win at anything else. I love it that much.” – Parabellum